Laos...

Hey guys,

sorry i've been a bit awol lately but it is not a lack of passion for the blog, but rather a lack of semi-decent internet connection. andre and i have hooked up with these two awesome girls called yee-man and shinaed from england and ireland respectively. We met them on the bus out of Pai and have hung out with them since. We came into Laos via Chaing Khong in Thailand and to get into Laos we actually had to take a longtail boat across the mekong river. We spent the night on the Laos side of the border in this one water buffalo town and then hooked up with these three mental boys and agreed to go to the bus station with them. We were told that the bus left at 8am so we turn up and find that the bus doesn’t leave until 9.30... dammit. Oh well we spent ages drinking coffee (made with oodles of sweetened condensed milk!) and getting to know the guys and met another german guy called yorge (of course entirely too hard to say after a few lao beers, so he is forever more known as george). Anyway, this ranks right up there as one of the WORST bus trips ever! it was heaps dusty, bumpy to the point of hitting your head on the roof, there was bus sickness going on all over the shop and the lao's on the bus persisted in touching us the whole way up. major points though to the rather fragrant piss taker who slobbered all over shinaed's breast whilst "sleeping". honestly, i didn't find it that bad, however the other girls suffered a fair bit. this is their first time abroad so they are more sensitive to stuff like that. i just bury my head in a book the whole way and if it's too bumpy for that then the mp3 player will fill the gap sufficiently.

anyway, ten hours after we started that ill fated trip, it FINALLY ended... which doesn't sound like a bit deal, but it bloody was. We arrived in Luang Nam Tha and we've been crashing out here for the last few days. Well, there was one little thing. The girls, george and I started a three day trek today. i got to the top of the first hill and started vomiting, so thought it best to come back down rather than chance three days being ill in the middle of no man's land. As it turns out, I'm fine but it means that i'm crashing out on my own in a bit of a one horse town for the next few days. but this is also a good thing. yesterday we hired some push bikes and went for a ride out into the country and i really enjoyed it, so i think i might engage in a bit more of that tomorrow. i think it'll be nice to just chill. especially in view that after this we have some more dusty bus rides ahead of us. on the up side laos is just the most gorgeous place. the rice paddies and huts are ridiculously picturesque and i spend my days in awe at all the cute kids, puppies and piglets. did i mention it makes me just a LITTLE bit clucky? but only for about 0.2 of a nano second! the other thing i find really amusing is the way we all shout road instructions to each other while riding. I’ll be pedaling along and all of a sudden i’ll hear someone shout “chicken crossing” or “get out of the way stupid puppy” or just “right, right, no the other bloody right shinaed!!”... all fairly standard road signs really. And amongst all this poor george stands there stoically trying to catch the rush of babbled girl English around him and stoically waiting for us to stop faffing around and actually fufill which ever activity we’ve pledged ourselves to. He also sat through two hours of s drinking beers and watching fashion tv last night. poor bloke must be REALLY desperate for company!

today was a bit of a stretch on the old nerves though. after my guide and i had climbed back down the hill we had to wait for a ride back into town. I look so strange to these people that they just stood there staring at me until i fell asleep on my own crossed arms (when i woke up they had dissipated). the whole thing made me feel a little bit like a science experiment! anyway, so we finally get a tuk-tuk (like a taxi) back into Luang Nam Tha and then get stopped at road works for four hours. The whole time I’m just trying to not heave and these Lao’s won’t stop looking at me and talking about me. I finally cracked and asked the guide what the group of men were talking about and she said they were discussing whether i was too old for marriage at 23 but if that could be compensated by my pale skinned chubby beauty! in the end one man did ask me if i’d consider being his wife and i told him that i’m far too young to be married, and besides, my laos visa runs out in twelve days and what would i do then? he admitted that those were fair reasons, taught me to count to five in Lao and gave me a discount on my tuk-tuk fare. can’t ask more than that can I? I did at one point consider asking how many water buffalo i’d be worth but i thought he might think i was just trying to barter a final sale price like the ladies in the market!

anyway, have made it back to luang nam tha safe and sound in one piece. I will endevour to try and do a bit more emailing and blogging in the near future. maybe even put up some pictures. though with internet speeds (and costs here) that may yet be an idle dream!

stay safe guys, and if you can figure out how many water buffalos i’m worth then let me know!

love,
simone xxx